The present invention relates generally to electronic measuring devices used for agricultural applications, and more particularly, to a combination electronic scale and mixing counter used for weighing and mixing animal feed.
Feed mixers in the agricultural market are used to mix or blend a variety of forage products (such as hay, corn, cotton seed, etc.) together before delivering it to livestock as feed. As seen in FIGS. 1 through 8, feed mixers are generally constructed from a large receptacle 10 with an open top for receiving the forage products. Contained within the receptacle 10 is some type of rotating device used to stir, mix and possibly chop the forage products.
The feed mixer 10 shown in FIG. 2 is a very common style of mixer that has a plurality of horizontally positioned augers 12 rotatably secured within a receptacle 13. These augers 12 are generally composed of some type of spiral blade or flight 14 on a shaft 16, such as that seen in FIG. 3. Augers 12 connect to the receptacle walls 18 with bearings 20, and are driven by a drive assembly 22, such as that shown in FIG. 4.
As best illustrated in FIG. 8, at the front section 30 of receptacle 10 is a power take-off shaft (PTO) 26 that connects to a tractor or the like. A line shaft 28 extends underneath the mixer receptacle 10 from the receptacle front section 30 to the rear section 32, and is connected to a drive assembly contained in housing 34 (see drive assembly of FIG. 4). The at least two of the augers 12 in the example of FIGS. 2-3 have sprockets 40 connected thereto for engaging the drive assembly, as shown in FIG. 4. Chains 42 are used to connect a primary drive sprocket 44 driven by the line shaft 28 (not shown) to the sprockets 40. In the example shown, there is only one stage of reduction from the primary drive sprocket 44 to the auger sprockets 40. Different stages of power reduction are commonly achieved by replacing the sprockets 40 and 44 with sprockets of different sizes.
Another common type of feed mixer is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. This type of feed mixer 46 has a pair of vertically oriented augers 50 rotatably secured in a receptacle 48. The augers 50 are driven in a manner similar to that previously described herein. Both types of feed mixer receptacles can be attached to a truck chassis instead of a trailer bed. For example, receptacle 13 is shown mounted permanently to a truck chassis in FIG. 7.
In operation, regardless of the type of mixer used, an operator loads the receptacle using a feed recipe specially formulated for a given herd of animals, i.e. dairy cows. The forage products are added by weight, which is measured by an electronic scale underneath the receptacle. Electronic weight display units are positioned near the operator for convenience.
Specially formulated feed mixtures are important for maintaining the health of the animal herd, and for achieving an expected quality of animal products such as meat, eggs, milk or hide. Even if special additives are not used, i.e. medication or specially treated feed, it is important to mix the ingredients well, without under- or over-mixing.
Under-mixing is quite detrimental because it enables the animals to pick out the tastiest or otherwise most desirable ingredients and leave the rest. This results in an imbalanced diet and wasted food. Over-mixing is detrimental because the forage materials are cut or ground into small particles which are too small for the animal to eat, or which blow away easily. This too results in an imbalanced diet and wasted food. Furthermore, it results in needless wear and tear on the mixer equipment, which can lead to early failure of the feed mixer.
It is up to the operator of the feed mixer to determine when a mixture is sufficiently mixed to an optimum blend. Unfortunately, this can be difficult to determine by simply viewing the mixture. To solve the problem of determining when the feed is properly mixed, timing devices that time how long the feed has been mixed are used. However, this is not an ideal solution because the augers may not always operate at the same speed, depending on the mixer engine speed, the viscosity of the feed ingredients, and the condition of the mixing equipment. In an effort to overcome these variations, the mixer counters have been used to count the number of rotations made by the mixing augers 12. Such mixer counters are electronic devices that measure the auger rotations with a magnetic switch. A display unit is mounted on or near the receptacle for the mixer operator. Unfortunately, this requires the operation, expense and maintenance of more than one display unit, i.e. one display unit for weighing and one display unit for counting. The two display units also can take up significant space if mounted in the rather small tractor or truck cabs.
There are additional problems associated with mixing feed. A first problem is that the operators do not always carefully monitor the mixing process. The operator may be in a hurry and decide to stop the mixing process a little early, or the operator may take a break during the mixing process and leave it run too long. The farm owner may not realize such practices are happening because the operator is usually not supervised when out in the field. A second problem is associated with maintenance of the mixing equipment. One of the biggest maintenance problems is auger wear, and usage time is not an accurate indicator of when a mixer needs maintenance. The auger blades can become thin with use, resulting with weaker blades and altered performance, i.e. cutting improperly.
Therefore, there remains a need for a mixing counter that is convenient to use and maintain. There is also a need for monitoring the mixing practices of hired operators. There is a further need for accurately determining when maintenance is required.
The functional features of the electronic device of the present invention include: 1) accurately counting the effective revolutions of the mixing structure; 2) notifying the mixer operator when mixing is complete, or providing mixer automatic shut-off; 3) determining when mixer maintenance is needed; 4) recording the habits of mixer operators; 5) providing weight information; 6) displaying the information in a single unit that can be conveniently mounted within the mixer operator""s view during use; and 7) storing different mixing regimens for different types of agricultural mixtures.
For the purpose of demonstration, the mixer counter is shown in an agricultural feed mixer. This example is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
The combination mixer counter and weight calculator of the present invention is used when mixing and weighing agricultural forage in a mixing machine. A load cell is placed on the mixing receptacle, and a sensor for sensing rotation is placed on a rotatable shaft in the mixing machine. The sensor and the load cell are electrically connected by a cable to an electronic device or xe2x80x9cindicatorxe2x80x9d housed in a single unit. The indicator specifically calculates and displays the number of auger rotations used to mix the forage, and the weight of the forage.
The method of using the indicator for weight and mixer counter measurements is generally provided by the following steps. A mixing machine having a receptacle and an auger within the receptacle for mixing forage is provided. A load cell (scale) is attached to the receptacle for sensing the weight of any forage placed in the receptacle. A sensor is attached to any shaft used to drive the auger. Both the load cell and sensor are electrically connected to the indicator, which is capable of calculating weight and the number of auger revolutions from electrical signals supplied from the load cell and sensor, respectively. The indicator calculates the number of auger revolutions by using electrical input pulses from the sensor.
The present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the invention, read in connection with the drawings as hereinafter described.